Reality TV’s first find, former VIVA band girl Neha Bhasin on growing up, moving on and singing solo

It's been so long that both of us go foggy remembering the first time she came to Chandigarh as Channel V’s Popstars winner. “Wasn’t that four years back or maybe it was five,” she shrugs to answer. Then a fresh out of college 19-year-old amateur singer who had won what was arguably the first of its kind reality talent hunt on television is today a much grown up and “wiser” professional. But just as much as VIVA, the all-girls’ band she was part of, had catapulted her to fame, today it makes Neha Bhasin talk of other things. “It was a good experience as long as it lasted. I have moved on, both professionally and personally since then,” shoots the lady who we thought had faded into the background until we heard her crooning ‘Kuch Khaas’ in Madhur Bhandarkar’s runway hit ‘Fashion’. “It wasn’t like I was out of work,” corrects Bhasin who arrived in Chandigarh on Monday to talk about Real TV’s show ‘Sitaron Ko Choona Hai’ where she’s the performance mentor for the participants. Apparently, after the band broke up, Bhasin headed down south where she sung in Tamil, Telegu and other regional dialects that won her not just acclaim but awards too. “It also gave me time to rediscover myself,” admits the singer who was “confused” then but much sorted out now. “I am a performer. I like to sing, dance and connect on stage. It’s the way singers are in the West,” tells Bhasin who is all set to launch her first solo album. “It’s all about me - the good, bad and ugly,” she laughs to say. Having written and composed most of the songs, it hopes to announce her arrival once more. “That apart, I am singing in Indra Kumar’s film ‘Daddy Cool’ and also for a single by Raghav Sachar,” she lets us know.